Latest Louisiana Headlines

All the headlines from our Louisiana Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Fire District Work Pays Off for Louisiana Town

Aug 7 2013 // Chackbay, La., homeowners won’t see their property insurance costs increase since the community’s volunteer fire department has made improvements. The Courier reports an assessment performed in May by the...

Cleanup Underway At Derailment Site in Louisiana

Aug 6 2013 // About 100 homes remained evacuated as officials worked to clean up the site of a 26-car train derailment in Louisiana near the small community of Lawtell, about 60 miles west of Baton Rouge. State police said crews were...

Fraud Roundup

Aug 5 2013 // Former Oklahoma Insurance Agent Sentenced A former Bixby, Okla., insurance agent has been sentenced to 10 months home confinement after pleading guilty to wire fraud that allowed him to illegally take commissions earned by...

Louisiana Recovers $4M in Additional Insurance Payments in First Half 2013

Jul 30 2013 // Louisiana insurance policyholders received an additional $4 million in insurance payments in the first half of 2013 as a result of assistance from the Louisiana Department of Insurance (LDI). Insurance Commissioner Jim...

Louisiana Parish not Responsible for Property Lost in Hurricane Fire

Jul 26 2013 // Jefferson Parish in Louisiana cannot be made to pay for belongings lost in a rented house that burned down at the height of Hurricane Gustav while the sheriff tried to put out the fire with a garden hose, a judge has...

Louisiana Agency Sues Big Oil Firms for Hurting Wetlands

Jul 25 2013 // A Louisiana agency sued 97 oil companies – including BP Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc – in state court on Wednesday for allegedly damaging hundreds of miles of sensitive wetlands...

44 Rescued From Gulf Rig After Natural Gas Blowout off Louisiana Coast

Jul 25 2013 // Natural gas spewed uncontrolled from a well of the Louisiana coast on July 23 after a blowout that forced the evacuation of 44 workers aboard a drilling rig, authorities said. No injuries were reported in the midmorning...

Louisiana Home Elevation Consultant Sentenced to 10 Years

Jul 25 2013 // A consultant already serving federal and state prison sentences for bribing state officials in the home elevation grant program, pleaded guilty to six counts of theft, for taking money from people but not doing the...

Flood Insurance an Issue in Louisiana’s U.S. Senate Race

Jul 24 2013 // U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu and her Senate race challenger, U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, are jockeying for credit and prominence on a high-profile problem for many Louisiana residents: the skyrocketing cost of flood insurance...

6 Plead Guilty in Louisiana Auto Accident Insurance Fraud Scheme

Jul 23 2013 // Six defendants in a case involving an automobile accident insurance fraud scheme in Louisiana have pleaded guilty, U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced. The pleas were heard by U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks,...

Auditors: Risk Management Privatization Saved Louisiana $10M

Jul 22 2013 // Louisiana has saved more than $10 million in the first two years of a privatization contract for claims processing and loss prevention services for the Office of Risk Management, auditors told lawmakers. Members of the...

Louisiana Citizens Seeking Increased Credit for Storm Season

Jul 22 2013 // As the peak of hurricane season approaches, the governing board for Louisiana’s property insurer of last resort agreed to boost its bank line of credit, to give the company enough money to cover costs in case of a...

Louisiana Clarifies Insured Loss Estimate from Hurricane Katrina

Jul 18 2013 // A recent report by financial website Kiplinger rated Louisiana as the most disaster prone state in the nation. News reports on this story have cited loss estimates of $3 billion for Hurricane Katrina and $2 billion for...

Official Claims Louisiana Sinkhole Depth Exceeds Estimates

Jul 16 2013 // An official says the deepest part of the 22-acre sinkhole near Bayou Corne, La., is at least 500 feet deep, and not between 110 to 220 feet deep that has been estimated by Texas Brine. John Boudreaux, director of the...

BP Gulf Oil Victims Challenge Economic Damages Claim Settlements

Jul 16 2013 // BP Plc’s $8.2 billion settlement of most private economic-damage claims from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill is unfair and should be rejected, victims opposed to the deal told a federal appeals court. The agreement...

Cameron, Louisiana Adds Firefighters; Expects Lower Insurance Premiums

Jul 15 2013 // Cameron Parish Fire District 10 in Louisiana has hired six firefighters and officials say that will improve response to fire calls in Johnson Bayou and Holly Beach and lower fire insurance premiums. District secretary...

Insurance Committee Chairman Named CEO of Louisiana Health Cooperative

Jul 12 2013 // Louisiana Health Cooperative Inc. has a new chief executive. The company this week named state Rep. Greg Cromer, a Republican representing the Slidell area, to the post. Cromer says LAHC is a nonprofit that offers...

Louisiana Woman Faces Murder Charge in Arson-for-Insurance Scheme

Jul 12 2013 // A woman accused of igniting a deadly bakery fire in Gretna, La., last month is facing murder charges after authorities said she torched her business in a scheme to collect insurance proceeds. Authorities say Lesly...

Louisiana Officials Want to Speed up Disposal of Blighted Property

Jul 11 2013 // With thousands of properties caught in a three-year legal holding pattern, Baton Rouge, La., and other officials across the state want the New Orleans treatment on dealing with blight. New Orleans already secured a state...

Well Leaks Natural Gas in Gulf Off Louisiana Coast

Jul 11 2013 // Natural gas began leaking on July 8 from an old, non-producing well at an oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico about 75 miles off the Louisiana coast after a crew working to plug the well lost control of it, the...